Chapter 39

Not really.

But here is a preview from Chapter 1 of Walk The Same Path 2 that I am writing now.

Thanks for reading!

Mark

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Friday late afternoon, February 25th – Waseda University, Tokyo Japan

From the stands, her friends watched as Taiga left the company of the two Miko's and approached her tall, Amazonian opponent. Just from looking at the two figures in their armor, it looked like a child was about to fight an adult. The smaller opponent wore a strip of red on her back and the taller had a strip of white. The tall girl still seemed immeasurably larger as the opponents went into their squat and waited for the referee to signal the start of the match. The three referees each held a red and a white flag for the actual judging but for now, they all took a few moments to observe each contestant's form. When they were all satisfied, they moved into their positions and were ready for the center referee to signal the match to commence. As soon as he did, there was an eruption of sound and a blur of motion.

"DO!" Taiga's scream could be heard echoing off the close walls even as the bodies rapidly moved. Her scream was followed by a loud smack from the sound of the the tall girl driving her Shinai hard onto Taiga's helmet. The big girl's blow had been powerful and Taiga had been driven to her knees… but all three referees were holding up red flags.

"What happened?" Yasuko asked. To her, it seemed like she blinked and it was all over.

"Onee-chan, look up there." Yuri gestured at the ceiling over Taiga's head. Fortunately, the college had a large monitor above the contest floor that could replay the scene in slow motion. All eyes went up to the screen to see how Taiga had scored the point.

With the motion slowed down, they saw what had happened in the mere second after the referee had given the signal to begin. Taiga launched herself at her opponent as if her legs had been boosted with strong coiled springs. The tall girl instantly reacted with a blow to Taiga's head, which impacted a moment before Taiga's stroke impacted her opponent's torso armor.

"But… it looks like the other girl got in the first blow. So, why did Taiga get the point?" Aiko-chan asked.

"Look at where the Shinai hit Taiga's helmet." Yuri explained, "Do you see the white tape on both of their swords?"

"Yeah." Aiko-chan could clearly see the white tape on the monitor.

"The blow has to be between that tape and the tip of the Shinai. Taiga closed the distance to her opponent so quickly that the blow to her head was in the wrong place and it didn't count." Yuri finished her lesson, but didn't sound like a teacher. There was admiration in her voice for the little girl that tried such a gutsy move.

"Wow… she moved real fast!" Aiko-chan said with apparent admiration.

"Yes, she did." Ryuuji was impressed too. There had been many times that he had been on the receiving end of one of the Palm Top Tiger's attacks and he knew just how fast Taiga could move.

"So, she's going to win, right?" Aiko-chan asked brightly.

"Maybe… she did get the first point. She only needs one more, but that kind of attack isn't going to work again. Her opponent will be on her guard now." Ami said. She would have liked to have said more too, but little Aiko-chan didn't need to be overly worried. Ami did not like the way the big girl had hit Taiga on her head so hard that she had been driven to her knees. She was a little surprised that the referees hadn't given the large opponent a penalty for that. But the main reason she said nothing was that it was Taiga. Had it been any other small girl, she would have cried foul. But Taiga wasn't one to be bullied so easily. In fact, Ami thought she could detect the Palm Top Tiger's barely controlled rage even from up in the stands. If that Amazonian thinks she's intimidating Taiga, she is making a very serious mistake.